Team Azula's shouts rang into the air as they rolled to a stop in a damp cavern panting for air.
The two noblewomen rasped with sweat on their brows as they frantically gazed down at their unconscious little sister.
Only for the two of them to sigh in relief when they saw that the handmaiden was unharmed.
Just as Azula dropped to the ground with her dark hair sticking to her face.
Nako sat on her knees with a hand over her chest as she breathed heavily while her fearful brown eyes glanced around the darkened cavern.
Just as blue fire lit up the large cavern.
"Damn that wretched freak! I am going to kill her slowly!" Azula snarled as she swatted her hair from her furious amber golden eyes while she glanced about the cavern.
"Thank you, Princess." Nako breathed as she sat up beside Azula while she gazed at the princess with a small smile.
To which she simply received a curt nod while the princess's amber golden eyes swept about.
Just before her cold gaze landed on her prone handmaid with her lips pursed into a regal scowl.
And even though she wouldn't say it out loud.
She couldn't help but breath quietly in relief to know that her young girlfriend was unharmed.
'Why hasn't Elle woken up yet! Did the puppeteer interrupt the ritual by attacking the sage? Or is it something else?' Azula thought with her callous eyes staring at her serving girl's sleeping face while her childhood friends fretfully gazed around the cavern.
Just as they spun around to watch Saro drop onto the cavern floor with a light stream of blood dripping down his cheek.
As he took a heavy breath while the princess called out to him.
"Saro! Where is Zoi, and her peasant?" Azula questioned sternly as she with her katana in hand as she stood up while the man turned to face her.
"We got separated in the fall!" Saro stated in a rushed voice as quickly stood up while they gazed warily around the now dimly lit cavern.
In an upper cavern Zoi dropped through the bursting earth with her line swinging high above her while Jiao held onto her neck.
Just as the sound of another round of explosions rocketed off below that prompted Team Azula to gaze up in returning alarm.
Boom!
The cavern shook with a distant tremor while the captain soared through the air with her focused golden eyes gazing behind her.
As a slew of armed puppets chased after her with astonishing precision.
With their mouths open as they released another flurry of bombs as Zoi rapidly swung out of the blast radius.
'How do these things move with such dexterity? She's controlling them somehow...but how?' Zoi thought with her fire illuminating the tunnel just as her companion shouted in fright.
"Zoi! Up above!" Jiao called out with her blue eyes gazing above them in fear as another slew of puppets leaped down at them from overhead.
Just as the mighty warrior propelled herself forward with her golden eyes taking on a colder tint while the horde surrounded her on all angles.
Only for her heavy combat boots to suddenly rebound off a rock wall as she backflipped with her partner crying out in alarm.
And then not even a second later the firebender blocked the swing of a puppet's blade with her unsheathed katana.
Before she savagely smashed her boot in the face of a dimly lit puppet soldier while it crashed into the wall with a resounding thud.
Zoi flew through the air with puppets besieging them from every corner.
And just like that the warrior and the puppets were locked into a fierce bout of airborne combat.
Zoi's battle cries rang out through the underground caverns while the fearsome firebender warded off one puppet after another.
Her golden eyes danced about in the flame lit tunnel as she quickly caught the arm of another mechanized puppet.
She slammed her into the chest of another as it was rammed straight through exploding rocks.
Only to rapidly gaze upward when a cloaked puppet slammed its blade into hers as she gritted her teeth while they swung through the tunnel network.
Her narrowed golden eyes now gazed back into expressionless light green eyes from beneath its hood.
As she fended off the swings of two more puppets with her alert eyes never leaving the cloaked puppet's shadowed face.
Slam!
Another puppet was sent hurling back into a slab of rock while the noblewoman clashed with the hooded puppet.
'There is something different about this one...it is stronger than the others...' Zoi thought with her cold eyes staring back into the masked puppet's shadowed light green eyes.
Then and that very moment she watched with marginally widening golden eyes as the walls around them began to earthbend once more.
Her eyes flickered about in the tunnel with the younger woman's arms still wrapped around her neckline.
Just as more puppets plunged down at them from above!
The nimble warrior swung in a rapid circle as she quickly kicked another puppet out of her way.
Before a powerful stream of flames finally sent the hooded puppet soaring with its back into a mound of dirt.
She gazed about with her still widening eyes observing the earth rapidly shifting above them.
Before she propelled herself through the volley of puppets with a stream of fire bursting forth from her booted feet.
Just as her fist grasped a flailing puppet by the face as they dropped through the plummeting rocks below.
They fell through cavern after cavern before they crashed down into the wet floor of the lower cave with the rest of the group quickly turning to notice their fall.
And not even a second later Jiao jumped off the noblewoman's back as she slid down upon the damp floor.
As she and the others watched with guarded eyes as the mighty captain straddled a struggling puppet.
Just before the warrior's slammed its head into the cavern floor while a resounding crack split into the air.
"Zoi! You caught one. Well done." Azula spoke as she brushed herself off with the others following after her.
Just as they all came to a stop before the captain while all but the princess gazed down at the destroyed puppet in growing discomfort.
"Those things give me the creeps...just like that lunatic puppeteer." Mai stated in a disgusted voice as she gazed down at the puppet in unease.
"Yeah. This isn't pink. Not pink at all." Ty Lee muttered with her passed out baby sister resting over her shoulder once more.
"As they should...because I have bad news. I could have sworn I saw one of them earthbend." Zoi announced in a grave voice as she turned to gaze into her companions completely stunned eyes.
There was a moment of unsettling silence while Nako shuddered as she knelt over the puppet to inspect its structure.
"What? You saw it...earthbend?" Azula inquired in a taken aback voice with the two noblewomen gazing down at the puppet in rising fright.
"I am almost certain of it. It tried to crush us in the tunnel above." Zoi spoke in a serious voice with the others staring back at her in shock.
While blue flames lit the vast cavern as they all gazed eerily back into each other's eyes.
"Puppets...that can bend?" Saro repeated in a disbelieving voice as he swallowed quietly.
"H-how is that even possible, Azula?" Ty Lee blurted out in shaken voice while the princess still gazed down with widened amber golden eyes.
It was unsettling to say the least.
"How...how is she doing this?" Azula hissed once more with her callous amber golden eyes expressing uncharacteristic frustration.
Only for all six of then to spin around in alarm when Nako cried out in fright.
"B-by Agni! What sort of depraved nature is this!" Nako exclaimed in a terrified voice as she fell back on her rear while the others gazed down at her in confusion.
"You'll have to be more descriptive, Nako." Azula snorted with a momentary roll of her eyes while all but Zoi shivered once more.
All eyes gazed between Nako's unnaturally pale face as she pointed down at the puppet's busted skull.
"T-the inside of that thing...is made of metal and human flesh!" Nako shouted in a terror-stricken voice with her words striking the entire team into a horrified silence.
And for once even Azula and Zoi were rendered speechless.
"Metal and human...flesh?" Mai asked in a clearly frightened voice with her widened tawny eyes gazing down at the puppet's flame lit countenance.
"Y-yes! This...puppet is composed of metal gears, and hardened human remains." Nako stammered as she knelt over the puppet while the group stood in a floored disbelief.
Zoi could only gaze down with her golden eyes taken on a rarely unnerved gleam while Jiao shook behind her.
Just as Nako turned to gaze into their eyes one after another before she turned to meet Azula's stunned amber golden gaze.
"P-Princess...by the look of it. I can only conclude that this puppet...was once a living...breathing human being." Nako concluded with a gulp while the others stared on with widened eyes.
And just like that a newfound sense of horror for their new enemy spread down their spines.
They were all beginning to understand that the puppeteer was even more twisted than they had taken her to be.
"So...this is what the old sage meant by patchwork." Zoi remarked in a soft voice from where she was crouched over the puppet while her companions stared down at it in revulsion.
"Prey...this is what she implied...by prey!" Nako exclaimed in a shaken voice as she gazed up into Azula's unusually perturbed amber golden eyes.
Before the princess regained her composure soon afterward as she stared down at the destroyed puppet with her eyes agape in boiling rage.
"She...thinks that she can claim our bending, and convert our corpses into puppets." Azula spoke with her regal voice trembling in fury while her childhood friends gazed on in horror behind her.
"We're not dealing with someone that's killing for a cause. And there's no way that she is working with the rebels. This is someone who is killing for the sake of pleasure alone." Zoi remarked in a stoic voice as she arose while turning to gaze intensely into the disconcerted eyes of her comrades.
"Azula..." Ty Lee trailed off in a nervous swallow while Azula still scowled down at the broken puppet with an expression of fury in her eyes.
"And these puppets are trophies." Zoi declared in a hardened voice while her compatriots listened in rising unease.
"Trophies?" Mai pondered in a disturbed voice while her paranoid eyes darted about in the darkened cave.
"Yes. And I think it should be obvious by now...that we are facing a deranged killer whose preferred victims just happen to be benders." Zoi announced bluntly with her grievous words cutting through the suspenseful air while she gazed into her companions widening eyes.
A simultaneous shudder spread throughout the damp air while even the proud Princess Azula stared on with widened amber golden eyes.
"W-we...we need to get out of here, Azula." Ty Lee pleaded in a rightfully terrified voice as she turned to gaze imploringly into the princess's recovering amber golden eyes.
"How dare this peasant think that she can sully the Crown Princess of the Fire Nation in such a vile manner." Azula snarled with blue fire burning from her clenched fists while her team gazed down at the puppet in an uneasy silence.
And not even a second later the puppet erupted in azure flames that lit the cavern.
The princess turned to gaze into her captain's golden eyes as they shared a momentary look with one another.
Only for the silence to be broken by the sound of the poor pilot crying out in terror.
"My mother was right! I should have stayed in the family bakery!" Nako cried out as she pulled at her hair while the princess's amber golden eyes now twitched in aggravation.
Ty Lee and Mai gazed at the panicking woman in sympathy.
"Nako." Azula stated in a stern voice with her cold eyes staring down at her pilot's pitifully distraught face.
"And now I'm going to get dismembered underground by some psycho! We're all gonna die! We're all gonna-!" Nako wailed only to cry out in pain when two fists pounded down upon the top of her head.
The others stared on in humor as they watched the princess and the captain loom over the recoiling pilot.
"Shut up, Nako!" Zoi and Azula ordered in unison as Nako now meekly nodded her head while she nursed her pained skull.
"Y-yes, Princess...Captain." Nako whimpered while Saro offered her a pitying glance.
"Get ahold of yourself, Nako. Right now, she is trying to play a twisted game with us by saturating us with terror to make the kill more pleasurable. Panicking will only give her the advantage." Zoi advised as she gazed into Nako's shaken brown eyes while the pilot hurriedly nodded her head.
"I-I uh...will try to keep that in mind, Zoi. Thank you." Nako agreed in a sheepish voice as she scratched at her cheek while Azula let out an annoyed sigh.
"Ugh. Let's just keep moving, and kill this irritating puppeteer already." Azula scoffed as she turned away with her icy eyes glaring ahead in the vast cavern while her childhood friends shivered as they nodded in agreement.
Her harsh amber golden eyes glanced at her girlfriend's slumbering face through the corner of her eye.
"Captain! Look down that way! I can make out some tunnels!" Saro exclaimed as he pointed towards the other end of the cavern while the others followed his fingertip.
And then the group turned to gaze at the tunnels in the distance as they shared an uncertain look with one another.
"It could easily be a trap." Mai commented with a frown on her lips while the captain scowled in concurrence.
"Saolin has a point. As rare as that may be." Zoi quipped with a hand on her shapely hip while the other noblewoman glared at her through the corner of her tawny eye.
"It looks like there four different tunnels." Ty Lee spoke with Elle over her shoulder while she gazed warily at the poorly lit tunnels.
As their eyes remained peeled for any sight of the morbid artist.
"Well then the solution is obvious. I say the benders could go one way, and the nonbenders go the other way. After all it's the benders that she is after. Not us nonbenders." Jiao stated with her arms folded over her chest while the two noblewomen contemplated her words.
While Azula now turned to glare her way.
As Zoi and Saro just let out a slight sigh as they continued walking much to the confusion of pilot and the two other noblewomen.
Once again it was clear that Jiao had known the two for quite a long time because neither of the two soldiers seemed to take any offense to her words.
"Filthy, peasant! I strongly advise you to watch your tongue! If not for Zoi's loyalty I would have had you imprisoned the moment I laid eyes on you!" Azula barked in a terribly unsocial voice as she glared daggers at the woman's annoyingly defiant face.
The woman never ceased to grate on her nerves.
Because she damn well knew that she would not have the courage to talk like that without Zoi standing beside her!
"Do we really have to do this right now, Azula?" Mai asked as she strode with her guarded tawny eyes gazing about while Azula proudly scowled at the commoner's face.
Just as the captain turned to glance down at her younger lover when she felt delicate hands grasp a hold of her arm.
"Zoi..." Jiao spoke quietly as she walked close to the taller woman while Zoi placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.
"It will be alright, Jiao. I'll protect you." Zoi replied with a nod as she felt soft hands slide around her waist while Jiao's head fell forward into her chest.
The others gazed at the two for a moment before they continued on.
But not without the princess casting the other woman another annoyed stare.
"It is sweet of you to say that, Zoi." Jiao muttered with her bangs shadowing her eyes while she sunk into the warrior's muscular stomach.
Just as the others were torn from their own thoughts when they suddenly heard Zoi fall to the ground with a thud.
Only for their eyes to nearly fall out of their heads when they saw Jiao sprinting away with Zoi's grenades in hand.
"Jiao! What the hell are you doing!" Saro shouted as he groaned with a hand over his face while Nako shivered as she watched the other woman run off.
Azula's amber golden eyes grew wide in both anger and unbridled irritation as she now glared down at her captain's chagrined face.
As both noblewomen snorted while Mai now gazing mockingly down at the embarrassed warrior.
"That was pathetic, Zoi! I expected much better from a warrior of your caliber! I can't believe you let her swindle your weaponry!" Azula yelled out as she turned to stare frigidly after the fleeing woman.
And just like that any prior regard for Jiao's wellbeing went flying right out the metaphorical window.
Within seconds her fingers began to crackle with lightning only for her amber golden eyes to grow wide in fury when a powerful fist seized a hold of her wrist.
Zoi held out an arm while she stared into her eyes with a stern stare of her own while the rest of the group observed in uncertainty.
"Jiao! I know what you're thinking! And you are not safer on your own!" Zoi called out with a twinge of worry in her voice while the princess still glared at the back of her head.
"She is after benders! She isn't after me! By that rational benders are a liability to be around!" Jiao yelled from over her shoulder as all but Zoi shuddered while Azula stared after her with simply murderous amber golden eyes.
"There's probably some truth to that." Mai commented in a deadpan voice while Ty Lee flinched when Azula sent a venomous glare their way.
"How dare you openly prioritize your own safety over your Crown Princess!" Azula snapped in a glacial voice as she shook in offense while her friends wisely kept their mouths shut.
Only for Mai, Ty Lee and Nako to cringe when the woman shouted back in response.
"I am not getting slaughtered and dismembered by some maniac for anyone! Not even for my Crown Princess!" Jiao hollered in a frantic voice just as she ran into a tunnel while the princess's jaw clenched in her fury.
The others wisely kept their mouths shut in fear of the angered princess's wrath.
Only for all but Saro to watch in surprise when Zoi rushed after the younger woman as if she hadn't just confessed to wanting to cut them loose.
"Come back, Jiao! It doesn't matter if you are a nonbender! She will kill you all the same!" Zoi protested as she fired her line into the ceiling of the cavern while she bounded after the other woman.
The others shifted nervously as they tried their hardest to ignore the look of unfathomable displeasure in Azula's imposing eyes.
"Uh...what now, Princess?" Nako inquired in a still shaken voice while Azula briefly glared down at her with icy amber golden eyes that made her wince.
Just as the princess's callous gaze grew a sliver less cruel in recognition of the pilot's loyal service.
Only for all of them to rapidly spin their heads around when they abruptly heard the Jiao's scream ring out into the air.
The rest of the group froze up in renewed fright while the sound of Azula's lips curled into a cruel smirk.
"Serves that commoner right." Azula remarked in a sneering voice while Ty Lee cast a chiding stare in her direction.
Only for Azula to watch with annoyed amber golden eyes when Saro too shot towards the tunnel.
Before Zoi and Saro leaped to the ground not even seconds later as they gazed on with surprised eyes to see Jiao backing out of the tunnel.
Jiao took a terrified step backwards with the grenades dropping to the floor of the cavern while her fearful blue eyes gazed into the darkened tunnel.
Just as Zoi's strong hand pulled her back by the shoulder while the warrior now glared into the tunnel with focused golden eyes.
As the entire group tensed as they grew ready for combat.
And not even seconds after that...
The flames in the cavern suddenly blew out.
Their eyes widened in succession as the three firebenders quickly reignited their flames while they spun about the cavern in alarm.
'Did she just...firebend!' Azula thought with her amber golden eyes glaring about the cavern only for her gaze to widen when she felt a hand touch her shoulder.
And just like that they all reeled around in shock to see the statuesque masked hunter looming over the princess with her hand on her neck.
It was then that they found themselves astonished when they saw how unusually tall and large Silah was in both height and size towering over everyone in the cavern.
Even the likes of even Azula and Zoi.
And more than anything they were unnerved by how she was able to silently sneak up on them in the dark.
"Is that fear that I sense, Azula?" Silah spoke in an eerie voice with her masked face lingering in the princess's dark hair.
As Azula's amber golden eyes grew wide in renewed boiling rage just before an explosion of bright azure fire lit the enormous caverns walls.
The group shielded their eyes from the blinding light of their leader's flames while they gazed out past their elbows in amazement.
They watched in astonishment when they saw that Azula standing in the center of an azure inferno once more.
"Don't flatter yourself, freak. I hold no fear of you." Azula hissed with fire spewing from her regal lips while she glared at the retreating woman's masked face.
Silah elegantly leaped through the air only for Zoi's katana to suddenly swing down above her.
Only for Zoi's eyes to narrow in annoyance when Silah skillfully flipped out of her reach.
And then she gracefully landed upon the cavern floor not a moment later.
One by one all seven of them gazed at their demented enemy with alert eyes while twisted dark green eyes now gazed back at Azula's sneering countenance.
Just as Zoi jumped down beside Azula while the two powerful firebenders gazed at each other through the corner of their eye.
Before they turned their cold gazes back to their mysterious enemy.
Jiao quickly fled to the other side of the cavern with her fearful blue eyes never leaving the hunter's masked visage.
"Now isn't that ironic...coming from a monster like you." Silah taunted in an amused voice with her sleeves hanging at her sides while the princess's amber golden eyes glared back at her.
"Please. If your goal is to hurt my feelings...you'll have to do better than that." Azula scoffed with a roll of her pompous eyes while she watched Ty Lee carry her serving girl away through the corner of her eye.
"Are you here to talk, or fight, Silah?" Zoi questioned with her golden eyes piercing the woman's masked face while her subordinate rushed over.
Saro wordlessly stepped up behind his two superiors' while his golden eyes glared at the cloaked figure through the flame lit cave.
"To the contrary, Azula. My intent is not to disparage you...rather I praise you. Your sheer cruelty, and ruthlessness is truly something to behold." Silah stated as she stood with her heartless eyes now gazing back at Azula's smugly smirking face.
Mai and Ty Lee shared an exasperated look over their friend's swelling ego.
"Indeed. I show no mercy to those that stand in my way...as you will soon find out." Azula spoke in a frigid voice with her icy amber golden eyes staring back at the bone mask while the hunter tilted her head.
"No. You certainly do not. As a monster myself I cannot help but admire the horrors that your gluttonous family have inflicted upon the world." Silah remarked with a smile on her lips while the princess smiled proudly despite her childhood friend's now disgusted faces.
And the two noblewomen and the pilot could not help but shudder over the way that the demented hunter was expressing such a deep admiration for the cruelty of the Fire Nation Royal Family.
"So, we have.... for it is our divine right to rule this world. But I fail to see where you are going with this." Azula replied in an uncaring voice while Ty Lee stared at the back of her head in disapproval.
"My thoughts exactly. What is your point?" Zoi asked with a noticeable edge to her voice while she studied the hunter carefully.
'Just what is she planning?' Zoi thought in a composed manner while she glanced about the cavern.
Her golden eyes briefly passed over Jiao from where the younger woman hid in the corner of the cave.
Before turning her focused eyes back to her enigmatic enemy.
"Over the past century your family has done nothing but enrich themselves off the sufferings of countless hundreds of millions. Even your poor impoverished peasants in the outlying islands and in the colonies despair in sorrow under your family's relentless rule." Silah commented as she took a step forward while Azula's amber golden eyes now flashed with a flicker of surprise.
Azula pursed her lips into a thin line while she tried to ignore the horrified stares of her childhood friends.
And the more emotional look from her skittish peasant pilot.
There was a moment of suspenseful silence while even Zoi gazed on in puzzlement before the twisted hunter continued.
"Your people are taxed until they break, and then they are sent to get slaughtered in your family's endless war. And then when a widowed mother pleads for a single coin to feed her hungry child because her husband died in your war...you tell her to get lost!" Silah praised in a wicked chuckle as she clapped her hands.
Azula scowled when her fellow noblewomen stared at her with judging eyes that angered her.
Perhaps most infuriating of all was the way that Zoi was now staring at her with a rare look of great anger in her golden eyes.
And just like that the princess's lips fell into a regal scowl as she clenched her teeth in renewed fury.
"Would you quit looking at me like that? It was just one peasant! Elle gave her an entire bag of gold anyhow!" Azula snapped as she glared at her captain's scowling face through the corner of her eye.
As the two noblewomen continued to stare at the hunter in rising horror.
The woman was truly completely and utterly deranged!
'What a twisted monster! She takes pleasure in watching Azula and her father inflict cruelty upon the world, even our own people!' Ty Lee thought with her lips forming a scowl while Elle slept on her shoulder.
'How long has this lunatic been watching us?' Mai thought with her tawny eyes wide in disgust while she clutched her knives in hand.
"You and your friends bask in luxury while you prosper off the sweat, and tears of your downtrodden rural peasants. Which is to say nothing of the barbaric international slave trade that your nation has perpetuated for generations! You four...truly are worthy of being called monsters. I commend each and every one of you." Silah declared with her gloved hand pointing back at their now speechless faces while the noblewomen's eyes flashed in delightful horror.
And just like that an unspeakable tension swept over the cavern.
And each of the three core highborn women of Team Azula suddenly found themselves glad that their innocent friend was not awake to hear the hunter's cruel words.
Ty Lee's eyes welled up with tears as she angrily turned away with guilt in her brown-gray eyes.
'And you wonder why people want to put Zuko on the throne.' Mai thought with her lips curled into a revolted scowl as she gazed away with shame in her eyes.
And Nako could only stare on with her brown eyes flashing with a spark of uncertainty as she swallowed under her breath.
But it wasn't her place to question the Crown Princess.
'What am I thinking? Azula told me that she would help my village! She's...not all bad! I know she isn't!' Nako thought as she quickly shook her head with a frown on her lips.
Saro gazed on with a much calmer look in his eyes but he couldn't help but admit that Silah had a point.
And Jiao could only stare on with a look of boredom in her blue eyes.
As Azula now shook with her crimson lips in an aggravated scowl as she exhaled fire through her nostrils.
Only to be torn from her thoughts when she turned around to gaze on in surprise when her captain shouted in anger.
"I will not stand here, and listen to you mock the sufferings of my fellow country men, and women!" Zoi bellowed in a livid voice with her golden eyes wide in rage before she broke out into a blinding spring towards the cloaked woman.
The others watched with suspenseful looks in their eyes as the captain swung her blade over the hunter's throat.
Only for everyone to gaze on in shock when the puppeteer caught the blade between her gloved fingers.
"No, you will not, Zoi. But you will stand idly by, like the good soldier that you are while they suffer! Just like the revolting peasants that are suffering under the Zanoda clan!" Silah mocked in sadistic laughter before she swiftly kicked the enraged warrior backwards.
As all but Jiao gazed on in worry over the reminder of the newly formed revolt under the Zanoda clan.
Azula's lips still adorned a regal scowl as she glared back at her enemy with callous amber golden eyes.
"You are starting to bore me, Silah. I assure you I will amend this little...peasant revolt. But first I will kill you!" Azula stated in a much colder voice with her fingers churning in hot lightning once more.
Zoi slid back with her jaw clenched as her golden eyes continued to bubble over in fury.
"As soon as we are finished here, I will rectify the Zanoda clan. And I don't give a shit if you, or your father have a problem with it." Zoi spoke in a beyond pissed off voice with her golden eyes forming a truly monstrous death glare.
Azula now stared at Zoi with flashing rage in her amber golden eyes over the not-so-subtle manner in which her warrior just told her that she would disregard her will.
As Saro grinned as he sunk into a combat stance.
It was just like his captain to take matters in her own hands.
Just as they all turned to the puppeteer's eerily masked face as a muffled chuckle flowed into the air.
"I still don't quite think you understand who you are dealing with, but perhaps it is time that I showed you." Silah called out as she began to walk forward with her cloak swaying behind her while seven pairs of eyes never left her bone mask covered face.
Just as a tower of azure fire shot to the ceiling of the vast cavern while the princess stared back at her with imposing amber golden eyes.
"I could say the same to you...but you too shall soon find out." Azula responded in a merciless voice with a smug smirk on her lips while great plumes of azure fire burned into the air.
Her subordinates gazed on at her intensely hot flames with their eyes widening in awe of her natural born talent.
"Now...that is a truly magnificent flame...such a searing heat...hot enough to burn bones into ashes. Is that a spark of evolving chi that I see in your blue flame?" Silah conversed in a strikingly relaxed as she stepped forward while her predatory eyes gazed into the burning blue flames.
Azula held her head high with a beyond proud smirk on her lips as she watched the mysterious woman advance.
The others gazed on in shock to see that the flames in the azure inferno seemed to be increasing in intensity at a rapid rate.
"My firebending is unrivaled. And there are no limits to what I am capable of. And it is mine alone." Azula commented with her arms folded over her breasts while she glared at the approaching artist.
'Incredible...and yet she is so calm....' Zoi thought with her golden eyes narrowing as she watched Silah's cloaked body stride towards them.
A giant blue inferno poured out into the depths of the cavern while the onlookers covered their eyes.
As they watched with captivated eyes as Silah continued to saunter towards the towering wall of blue fire.
"I have to say that your flames are absolutely beautiful...just like you." Silah purred in a twisted voice as she strode forward while the princess watched her advance with a flicker of surprise in her amber golden eyes.
Only for the princess to recover not a second later while she glared out of the corner of her eye when she heard Zoi and Mai sound as if they were failing to suppress a snort of laughter.
"Of course, I am. My beauty too is unparalleled." Azula scoffed in a snobbish voice with a smile on her lips while her childhood friends rolled their eyes.
As all eyes remained glued on the cloaked puppeteer as she continued to walk towards the dome of fire.
Just before the princess's flames swiftly expanded with azure embers pouring into the air while the others gazed on in astonishment.
"However, you are still weaker than me." Silah commented in a cold voice while the princess's amber golden eyes now grew wide in revived rage.
Only for Azula's eyes to widen in disbelief when she watched Silah take a calm step into her flames.
The entire group watched in a shellshocked silence as the ominous hunter strode through the fire with her cloak now burning behind her.
And yet she didn't appear to be harmed in the least!
"How...is that possible?" Azula hissed under her breath as she leaped into the air with her fists burning in blue fire.
Zoi and Saro jumped backwards with their widened eyes gazing back at the burning puppeteer in shock.
"Poor, Azula. You are so full of yourself. But then...I suppose that is why I have become fond of you." Silah announced in a casual voice with her cloak slowly falling off her body while the princess glared daggers back at her.
"Fond?" Mai repeated with a shudder that was shared by Ty Lee while Azula glared at her through the corner of her eye.
"Yes. It is true. In all of the hundreds of victims that I have killed...none have fascinated me quite so much as you two. But I confess that you are my favorite type of victim Azula." Silah stated with a monstrous grin forming under her mask while the princess's eyes burned in humiliation.
The others gazed on nervously as they caught the meaning behind the woman's morbid words.
'It really is a good thing that Elle isn't awake to hear this...' Ty Lee thought with her arm wrapped around Elle's slumbering shoulder while she protectively held her little sister into her side.
"Well, Princess...it would appear that you have another admirer." Zoi remarked as she leaped down beside Azula while her princess glared a hole through her skull.
"Shut up, Zoi!" Azula snarled with fire spewing from her beautiful lips before she turned her wrathful eyes back to her enemy.
Only for her amber golden eyes to observe closely as she watched the last of the cloak fall to the ground.
Silah was clad head to toe in what appeared to be some type of sleek steel armor.
Underneath the armor there were glimpses of a green kimono that almost looked similar to those that the Kyoshi Warriors wear.
And two war fans were tucked into a sash around her waistline and she had two sheathed swords at her hip.
Attached at her hips were two war fans and two sheathed swords.
Her malicious dark green eyes now gazed back at their bewildered faces as her gloved fists fell to her hips.
"I must say I have never seen anyone quite so hubristic as you. But I suppose that's what I find so appealing about you. It really is a shame though...I have no choice but to kill you just like all of the others." Silah confessed in a twisted voice with her demented eyes never leaving Azula's scoffing amber golden eyes while the others gazed on in a taken aback silence.
"W-well that's creepy..." Nako trailed off from beside the two noblewomen while they shivered in agreement.
"Please! You are the one deluding yourself if you truly think that you are a match for me, peasant." Azula sneered in a proud voice with her fist crushing the hilt of her katana.
Only for the sound of Zoi shouting to tear through the air once more as she turned to gaze in surprise in her captain's still enraged golden eyes.
"Enough about the princess's body! I am through with talking! I am going to make you pay for what you did to my subordinate!" Zoi bellowed in a voice of rapidly escalating rage while she sunk into a combat stance.
"Damn right we are!" Saro exclaimed with his fists burning in orange fire while he dropped into a bending pose.
Azula gazed at the two with faintly taken aback amber golden eyes while Silah laughed loudly in response.
Feeling anger over the deaths of her soldiers wasn't something that she was used to.
"I'll be taking the Component girl from you, Azula. Fear not though...I'll treat her well." Silah purred in a sadistic voice as she licked her lips beneath her mask.
The princess's tyrannical amber golden eyes now grew wide in pure rage as she stared back at her with fire escaping her nostrils.
As the noblewomen glared back at her with equal fury in their eyes.
"No, you will not!" Ty Lee shouted with great anger in her sisterly voice as she shook in her outrage.
"The girl belongs to me! I own her! And you cannot have her!" Azula boomed in a possessive voice with hot lightning exploding from her mighty fists.
"We'll just see about that won't we! In the meantime, I suppose that I will entertain your struggle! Now feast your eyes my prey on my perpetual artwork!" Silah yelled out in a psychotic voice as she held out her gloved hands at her sides while the group watched her with narrowed eyes.
"Artwork?" Zoi questioned in a confused voice while Azula snorted pompously alongside her.
All of the others observed closely as Nako gulped in fear with her limbs already starting to shake once more.
"Gaze upon art that is eternal." Silah called out in an unhinged voice as she slammed a palm into the cave floor while a white light shot into the air.
As the princess's forces stared on in bewilderment as they watched with alarmed eyes as the bright light lit up the desolate cavern.
Only for all of their eyes to nearly fall out of their heads in disbelief at what they saw.
All throughout the cavern floor they stared on in shock as they witnessed what appeared to be corpses emerging from the ruptured earth.
"W-what the...are those Earth Kingdom s-soldiers?" Nako stammered in fright as she took a terrified step back beside the mutually horrified Mai.
The three firebenders stared on with shellshocked eyes as they watched the puppets arise from the flooring.
"Those soldiers...are the ones that we killed on Shantu Island." Zoi spoke in a stunned voice with her wide eyes gazing on ahead.
"But...how!" Azula growled out with frustration in her voice as glared back at Silah's masked countenance while the hunter's twisted laughter echoed into the air.
"Do you have any idea how much the world hates you, Azula? As you can see...I recruited some rebels from the Earth Kingdom. I could only fit fifty aboard my ship...but once I told them that they would get to torture, and kill you...they lined up in the hundreds!" Silah shouted as she gestured back at her puppets while the princess's amber golden eyes now trembled in seething rage.
The rest of the group gazed on in a horrified silence as they watched more soldiers emerge from the earth.
"You will scream for your defiance, Silah! These toys of yours will not keep you safe from my wrath!" Azula snapped with her icy eyes gazing on at the emerging soldiers.
Only for her mouth to drop open in disbelief when she saw the faces of the new arisen puppets.
And just like that all of their eyes nearly fell out of their heads to find themselves gazing back at Fire Nation soldiers!
Zoi's golden eyes grew as large as they could get with her mouth falling open in horror.
"That's...our squad!" Saro exclaimed in a voice of ghastly horror as he gazed on wide eyed at the sight of his comrade's lifeless faces.
"W-what a monster." Ty Lee protested in terror as she took a shaky step backwards.
"S-she...weaponized our dead." Nako breathed in a tone of quiet voice as she cowered in terror once more.
"By...Agni!" Mai cried out as the puppeteer's monstrous cackles tore into the air.
Jiao continued to gaze on with her blue eyes expressing her growing fear as she backed into the wall.
While frantically pondering how she will get out alive if captain and the princess fall in battle.
"She...slaughtered my soldiers...and desecrated their remains..." Zoi trailed off in a voice of brimming rage while her fists balled up at her hips.
Just as a lone tear dripped out of her right eye while all but Saro and Jiao gazed at her face in surprise.
Azula gazed on with her amber golden eyes agape in disbelief as she watched in shock as the tear fell to the floor below.
Mai stared on with her lips in a grimace as she clutched her fistful of knives.
'I hate to admit it...but she's not as horrible as I thought.' Mai thought with her tawny eyes briefly flashing in a sliver of remorse.
"Now gaze upon your future! You'll be joining them soon enough!" Silah cackled in a delighted voice with her gloved fingers coiling before her while they glared back at her in boundless disgust.
As the princess exhaled fire from her nostrils as she snarled back at her.
Only to turn to her captain once more as she gazed at the noblewoman's face in rising bafflement.
"I...I should have been there!" Zoi hissed with her jaw clenched in a tense line while blood trickled down her chin.
"Zoi..." Azula spoke in a genuinely puzzled voice with any further words strangely dying in her throat.
She found herself telling herself not to tell her serving girl about the soldiers' fates.
For reasons that she couldn't explain she didn't want to see her handmaiden break down in tears and blame herself for their deaths.
The air was ripe with tension as the others stood in a horrified silence.
No doubt floored by their newfound enemy's sheer depravity.
Another tear streamed down Ty Lee's cheek as she stared at Silah's masked face with limitless revulsion in her brown-gray eyes.
"You amuse me, Zoi. You carry yourself like you think you are a hero, and you claim to oppose the cruelties of the Royal Family...and yet...you follow them like a blind tool. It's quite pathetic really." Silah commented in a cruel voice as she stood smugly gazing back at the captain's beyond enraged countenance.
"I do not fight for Princess Azula alone! I fight for the people of the Fire Nation! Remove her from the equation, and my duty wouldn't change in the least!" Zoi roared in a voice of bubbling rage while the princess gazed at her out of the corner of her eye with her eyes flashing in offense.
Yet Azula chose not to comment on the matter.
Only for her callous eyes to gaze on closely when she saw a faint steam emitting from the warrior's furious body.
Zoi bellowed at the top of her lungs with her stunned comrades gazing on in awe.
Silah stared out from beneath her mask with fascinated dark green eyes while she watched steam rise into the air.
While sparks of red embers now burned off the captain's body as her golden eyes grew wide in murderous rage.
'What...is that! Is that the technique that Zoi was talking about?' Azula thought with her amber golden eyes wide in genuine astonishment while she gazed at her captain in shock.
Just as the rest of the group shielded their faces as stared out at the noblewoman's body in amazement to see that she was giving off an intense heat!
"That is an impressive power that you have there, Zoi. But it is nothing compared to my immortal artwork!" Silah declared in a psychotic voice with her words echoing throughout the cavern.
The infuriated captain raised her razor focused golden eyes as she glared back at the hunter as she slid her boots back along the cavern floor.
"I am going to fucking kill you, Silah!" Zoi bellowed in a raging voice as she sunk into a crouch while Azula gazed at her with still astounded amber golden eyes.
And just like that the captain broke into a blinding sprint with her line firing across the vast grotto while the others watched in suspense.
Only for each and every one of them to gaze on in surprise when the puppeteer extended her hands behind the fallen soldiers.
Just as they watched wide eyed as the legion of slain soldiers leaped into battle!
The army of puppets sprinted across the cavern in all directions as they all balked in disbelief.
Just as Zoi now bounded high above the others as she soared high in the air with her furious golden eyes staring down at the masked puppeteer.
Silah licked her lips underneath her mask as a demented grin formed upon her lips.
"You will try, Zoi. And then you will fail...just like all of the others. And then each and every one of you aside from the holder girl...will become a part of my collection." Silah declared in an unfathomably unhinged voice as she held out her gloved hands at her sides.
A unanimous shudder traveled down the spines of the princess's forces as they stared at the masked woman in horror.
As her sadistic laughter split into the air.
Azula glared back at Silah with callous amber golden eyes as she watched the army of puppets leap in the air above her.
Just as she dropped into a firebending stance while her crimson lips pursed into a regal snarl.
And then blue fire exploded over the roof of the tunnel while the princess kicked up fireballs at the attacking puppets.
Zoi plummeted from the skies with her golden eyes wide in an utterly enraged stare.
Before the captain dropped like a meteor above the masked puppeteer.
And just like that a thunderous explosion of fire shook throughout the vast grotto.
As the mighty captain's enraged howls echoed in the tunnels and into the ears of all present.
And then...impact.